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FREE Strength
Training Tips and More
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Why Train
with Bodyweight Exercise?
I'm not one to think the only way you should train is with your
bodyweight. Sure you can do that and get great results, but in order to
be the most athletic you can be, you’ll have to look toward other
disciplines.
All the various training tools have advantages and disadvantages to
them. With certain implements you can train in ways that cannot be
duplicated
elsewhere. Why not take the best of everything?
That being said, first and foremost you should know how to use your
body. I don’t think you should begin to use anything else without a
base level of expertise in your own bodyweight.
You'll only ever live with your own body so learn how to use it well.
There are certain advantages with bodyweight exercise, not the least of
which is you don’t need any equipment and it can be done anywhere.
Just look at a gymnast. They do bodyweight exercises and no one can
doubt the strength they have. You may never aspire to do a planche or
an iron cross but understand just how difficult these exercises are.
Controlling a barbell is one thing but to be able to manipulate your
own body in time and space requires much more coordination and strength.
A large benefit of doing bodyweight exercises is the entire body will
be worked in unison. To do a pushup you must maintain a certain degree
of tension in the midsection so that you can do the movement up and
down. If most people were to try to hold a handstand against the wall
they would come tumbling down. They do not have the control necessary
to keep their body together. This same effect can be achieved with
weights but it is not always so readily apparent.
Since you are the resistance, it is easy to get inside the weight. A
beginner will have a disconnected mind when lifting weights most of the
time. With bodyweight exercises you can link up your body and mind with
more ease. More experience with focusing within will allow you to
carryover the effect whenever it is needed.
The wide variety of bodyweight exercises can be used to build maximal
levels of strength, maximal levels of endurance and conditioning as
well as flexibility, mobility and balance. By manipulating the manner
in which you train you can achieve any goal you want, losing fat,
gaining muscle or just getting in better shape and stronger.
There are calisthenics, jumping rope, hill sprints, muscle control,
isometrics, hand balancing, gymnastics, yoga, even feats of strength
using the body alone, and much more.
How you train with bodyweight exercises is the important thing. When
you truly learn how you can use your own body you’ll be able to make
one pushup so difficult you can’t do it or be able to crack off 250
with some ease.
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